Everything was supposed to hurt. He could see the murky red ball of pain off in the distance. It was like someone had punched the horizon and left a dark red bruise behind. Marco was glad that he was far, far away from it. There wasn't much else that he could see around him; the ground was made from gray sand and was relatively flat.
It was hot, or rather it looked like it should be hot. Marco could see the heat waves radiating off the sand, but he couldn't feel any heat. He was nice and comfortable.
Marco looked down; there was a body by his feet. It was laying on its side and the red hoodie was covering the persons face. He pushed the body on its back and was surprised to see a boy's face. He looked young. His face was full of baby fat and there wasn't a single hair on his chin.
Marco wasn't exactly sure what to do with the body. Whoever it was looked unconscious. Suddenly, the eyes opened. They were pure white. No pupil, no iris, not even any veins. Usually Marco would scream at such a sight, but for some reason nothing here really bothered him. He could stay in this place forever.
Sometime later, Marco thought he could hear whispering. He wasn't sure how much time, it was difficult to tell in here. It was coming from that looming cloud of mystery. Marco was slightly surprised to see that it had grown since the last time he'd looked at it. It was no longer just a simple bruise. It had expanded to eat up the horizon, going from a cotton ball of reds and blues to a cumulonimbus thunder cloud of jagged purples. He felt a gentle tug towards it but it could've been his imagination.
"Marco…" His name floated to him on a nonexistent breeze. The voice sounded familiar. It was feminine and it sounded so comfortable. Marco wouldn't mind being enveloped by it.
The voice came again, slightly louder this time. The heat waves started to develop, like how photos used to. It was a face. She had blonde hair that went all the way past her waist. Her face was shaped by her golden bangs and her cheeks had pink hearts on them. She looked sad – no that wasn't the right word. She looked… Worried?
That was it. Whoever this girl was, she was awfully worried about something. Her lips were moving, calling out to him. As he was watching this mystery girl, he noticed another mirage take form next to her. It was the same girl, but this time she was running in place towards him.
Another mirage started to apparate to Marcos left. This one was different, though. The blonde girl was there, but the unconscious boy was there too. He was being dragged by the arm towards an explosion. They must know each other. They looked like they were good friends; they almost always had megawatt smiles.
Marco could hear other voices now. Most of them were similar to the first one. He'd recognize that one anywhere now. The images seemed more like a story than just a random composition. He was looking at someone's life. He originally thought it was about the girl, but something about the boy made him think otherwise. He just couldn't place why he thought it.
The images formed a tunnel towards the tidal wave. They were obviously hinting at what they wanted to happen.
Marco grabbed the boy, threw him over his shoulder, and started walking. It was a strange, they where wearing very similar hoodies. He shrugged off the coincidence.
They'd only made it a dozen feet when Marco felt a slight oozing on his neck. It felt almost like rain drops, but it wasn't raining. He laid the boy on the ground and was shocked to see a cut had appeared on his arm. Even the hoodie was ripped. But there was nothing that could've ripped it around, unless he'd bumped into one of those images?
Surely they weren't solid. Marco wasn't even sure if they were real or if he was just hallucinating. He gingerly reached out to the nearest image. It was just the boy at his feet in this one. He was laying on a couch with a plate of steaming nachos. Marcos hand passed right through it. So what had caused the cut?
Deciding that he wasn't going to get any answers, he bandaged the wound best he could and. heaved the body back on his shoulders. The voices were still urging him to go to the purple tidal wave, so that's where he walked.
He saw the next laceration. It was on the leg closest to Marco. Another, on the right foot! Marco didn't stop walking this time because he knew there was nothing he could do about it except bear witness. Another one appeared close to where he was holding on to the body. It started to rip the skin towards Marco. He thought it would just go underneath his hand, but instead it climbed onto his skin.
Marco screamed and dropped the body like a sack of potatoes. It was more that just a cut, though. memories started to play inside his head. This one was different than the rest. It was like he was looking through someone's eyes instead of from an outsiders perspective.
Everything snapped into place at once and suddenly Marco remembered why the hoodie was significant. It was his hoodie; the boy on the floor was him! The blonde girl he kept seeing was his best friend Star.
And Star needed him.
Marco picked up his body once more and continued his journey. Every step he took, a laceration or bruise formed and he was hit with another memory. His breathing became as ragged as his now tattered pants. What was happening to him? Why was this so difficult? When he took another step and a new memory surfaced, Marco stopped walking.
A new face had appeared. It was yellow triangle with a singular eye on it. It almost reminded Marco of the pyramid on the one-dollar bill, but this guy was way too creepy. He was gone from Marcos head in a second, but that sleep demon was already burned in his mind.
Bill. His name was Bill.
And he had hurt Marco.
It all made sense now. He was Marcos mind and the Marco laying unconscious on the sand was a representation of his physical body. Bill had hurt both of them and Marco had gone to this place in an attempt to save his soul.
If he turned back, the wounds would stop appearing, maybe they'd even go away completely. He could stay here, happy and ignorant.
No, he remembered enough now to know what kind of danger Star could be in, and while she was more then capable of handling most situations, Marco would always have her back. Always.
The wounds taxed Marcos strength and he could no longer pick up himself from the floor. He could only grab onto his legs and drag him. bombarded by memories that brought tears to his eyes, it was only by sheer will that Marco forced one leg in front of the other.
When he was only about a hundred feet from the cloud, Marco noticed that the wounds on his physical body had started to heal! He picked up the pace, hoping that soon his mind would start healing, too.
It never did.
Whatever was healing his body seemed to have no effect on Marcos mental state. He could still see the devilish glee in Bills eye when he did unspeakable things. He could still hear the way that the sleep demons insane laughter blended with his own screaming.
There wasn't an inch of Marcos soul that was left untouched by that freak by the time he reached the purple haze. The voices had crescendoed into a roar that nearly shattered his eardrums. Still, Stars cry for help cut through it all.
Marco took a deep breath, and walked into the cloud.
(Line Break)
Everything was dark but Marco was warm. Warm hopefully meant not dead, although he bet hell was nice and toasty this time of year.
"Bill is still out there. Do either of you have any more ideas on how to defeat him?" He knew that voice, it was a voice he'd heard almost every day for the past few years. He was finally reunited with Star.
She was talking to someone about something, that much was obvious. It sounded like it was about Bill, but Marco was more than happy to let them hash it out. He was going to enjoy whatever he was laying on and listening to Star.
His mind drifted and soon he saw his life portrayed as a cartoon. It reminded of the ones he used to watch as a kid, Tom and Jerry to be exact. Only he was Jerry and Bill was Tom. They just kept beating each other up, over and over again. Each time was more creative than the last.
"Why don't we just trap him in a genie bottle or something?" Marco hadn't realized he'd spoken aloud till he heard Star gasp. He finally opened his eyes and noticed that he'd been laying in her lap. His cheeks immediately turned red but Star was too busy pulling him into a hug to notice.
Marcos world shook, or at the very least vibrated, as Bill crashed through a side wall. He flinched at the sight of that beast. His breathing pattern shortened as the flood of memories threatened to drown him. Star was the only thing keeping him floating.
And then Star went and fought him. Again. The two men she was talking to when he woke up started devising a new way to potentially defeat Bill because apparently all the other attempts had failed (obviously).
"Well I have the mind erasing gun with me." The boy with a pine tree hat said.
"Dipper! You genius." So this was Dipper. Marco remembered that dreaded shapeshifter mentioning him. he was glad to see that Star had teamed up with them.
"We still need someway to get him inside someone's head. Any ideas, Ford?"
"Bill thinks that I know how to shut down the force field. If I get him in my head, could you really defeat him?" They looked at him for the first time, like really looked at him. Marco would do anything to save the earth.
"You've got guts, kid." The old man in a suit said. His voice was rougher than sandpaper.
"Theoritically, yes. It should work." The other one said, "But we would wipe your memory of everything that has happened. There can be absolutely no piece of Bill in your head."
"Good. There are a few things I'd rather forget anyways." Marco ignored Dipper and Mabels protests and walked towards where Star was facing off against Bill. She looked so tired. Her movements were sloppy.
It was up to him now. He could save her.
"BILL!" Marco yelled. "I want to make a deal."
AN: Hey guys! I hope the first part wasn't too confusing. I just started typing and that came out. I like it. I also wrote almost all of this today so I apologize for any mistakes. I'll have it nice and edited by the next chapter. Also, my last final is on Monday so I should be able to write a lot more over the break. I haven't decided how it'll affect my updating schedule, but it will most likely mean longer chapters over more frequent chapters.
Good luck with any end of semester exams!
